Facts

To understand how a dog senses the world, how they think and how intelligent they are is vital for your ability to interact with them,  to train them and to keep them healthy.

Dogs are known to observe their surroundings through their nose. We might know that our dogs sniff at fire hydrants, street corners or even at the randomest of places, but this is not without cause.

Dogs see the world around them primarily through olfactory senses, which relates to concept developed by the famed dog cognist Alexandra Horowitz, in which so called “smell walks” are important for your dog's mental stability and should be part of a daily routine (2 & 3).

However a dog’s nose is far more important than just providing them with a lense into their environment, as it also gives them a way to familiarize themselves with their surroundings (3).

Although it might only seem like a wet, black circle at the end of your dogs snout occasionally noticed when dapping it with a bit of yogurt, it truly is the gateway to the amazing world of a dog.

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We may all be familiar to the excitement a dog feels when their owner returns home. Just as you step out of the car, the dog is already pouncing across the living room pressing his nose against the window before running to the door and greeting their human with a wagging tail while curving through their arms and legs.

However there is more to this, especially from a dog’s perspective than originally meets the eye. 

Rewind this familiar memory and you will most likely see that at the beginning, the dog is more nervous or cautious while having a blind perspective to who these humans might be stepping out of the car. It is only when they receive a whiff or a scent of their master that they transform into a jubilant and happy dog (3).

However this scent is not something which only works on humans, but also when you dog smells another dog as a form of greeting. With my dog Chester as an example, whenever we drive on holiday he sniffs every car on the block before eventually finding ours and jumping in the moment the boot is even slightly visible from the street on which he stands.

 DOG  WHISPERING

      How    your dog "sees" the world?

a 7th Sense or just a genius?  

Looking at your dog and you may sometimes feel as if they are starring right back at you, as if they could look right through you, in an emotionally attentive and relatable way. No matter if I am joyous or upset, both of my dogs have always seemed to display this preternatural sensitivity to my emotions.

We know to be true and we also know that dogs use eye contact and gestures as a sign of attention. However with this field still a its infancy we cannot explain why yet, accept that in many ways dogs are similar to new born babies, who have special neurons which fire in reaction to a face or face like feature (including a V shape), so perhaps they truly are your understanding companion (2).

This is not just true for my dogs though: Against the best of his knowledge, our dog trainer and family friend Nate Segall is convinced, there is a component of an old soul in his 11 years old dog Hendrix. He has the tendency to start "singing at the top of his lungs" when ever Tom Weights is played over the radio. Here again, a dog shows a unique personality and that is something which can be found in every dog.

Looking at them as  a person comes last, but that said, there are some dogs, like Pluto, Sir Chester or like Hendrix who are so understanding, they hav so much character and personality.S o, it seems as if those guys are just as complicated as people, getting to know them, they all of minor-expressions and secrets and you have to get used to it.